FinFan

After beeing fairly dissapointed with a lot of post 2010 shows I dug into my collection and re discoverd The Rockford Files. I do like a lot of the 70s shows, the look and feel of the times. And I had fond memories of this one but never watched it completely. So it was time to change that.

Of course not all 70s shows were great but The Rockford Files is a true classic and one of TVs landmarks. Here was a P.I. like no one before. For starters he is a paroled ex-con. That alone would have been worth a first look into the show. He is afraid of guns althought he uses one occasionally. Always seemed a bit reluctant to take on clients. Shies away from violence and is not afraid to admit to chicken. Always seems to be doing things for money and not because they are the right thing to do. This kind of character traits usualy went along with the guys on the other side of the law in TV land. Yet Rockfords moral compass is very strong and he has a very keen sense of wrong or right. Which made him a unique and, due to Garners great portrayal, very likeable guy.

Althought at first glance you get the usual detective stories the wrinting was phantastic, there are hardly any bad episodes. And back then a lot of the story ideas were rather new and had not been used too much. The dialogues were crisp and had a smart humor and witt. The main and recuring characters were, with one exception, likeable. The exception beeing low life Angel. He never contributed anything for a story, he was mostly a nuisance. He was like stuff on your shoe you try to get of but sticks to you no matter what. The scripts would have worked fine without him or any other doing his part. With Angel you always knew what would come which was why I always let out a groan when reading the name in the opening credits and that never changed throughout the whole run. But that´s my personal opionion. I´m not blaming Margolin as I am sure he played him like he was written. I would have rather seen more out of Beth then the usual getting Rockford out of prison. Both, the actors and the characters, had good chemistry. I really liked Gretchen Corbett who totally disapeared later on. When I think about it that cop Lt. Chapman who always tried to pin every crime in the vicinity on Rockford: that wore out fast, too. Those thing never work if used often.

Towards the end of its run there were some scripts that lacked quality but that wasn´t the reason for the show to end. It was Garners health, the toll the show took on him, and I remember something about a lawsuit against NBC, that ended the show midway through the sixth season. They came back in the mid 90s with some TV movies but for me they lacked somewhat in quality. It was the typical made-for-TV movie of the time that stretched the content of a one hour script into a two hour format. Now, I am not saying they should be avoided but unless you are one of the guys who wants to see everything there is really no need to do so.

Finally one nother thing that never occured to me while watching this way back is how many later shows had similarities to The Rockford Files. Think about the A-Team, another Cannell show, when Rockford was doing a con. And Magnum p.i. seemed to be another take on Rockford altogether.

First of all I want to get something out of my system. A lot of people are criticising war-movies, especially those about WWII, for not beeing realistic or directors for being overly brutal when filming battle scenes.
First, I am pretty sure none of us has been there, at the second WW that is, so what do we know and who are we to judge ? War was/is brutal and everyone who has knowledge about the war in the Pacific should know that those were the most brutal fights of the war.
Secondly, it´s a movie for heavens sake. Those kind of things are to be expected. Even the argument that you don´t see such brutally in documentarys doesn´t fly. Althought there were cameramen at the battlefields I doubt they always were in the middle of the action during the battles. So no one, except those who have really been there know how brutal it was. And the glorification of the "good old boys" is to expected just the same. Or does anyone think a Japanese war movie does this different? Everyone who can´t except this should better avoid these kind of movies.
Third, the war movies that were made in the late 40s to, say, the 60s aren´t known for their accuracy when it comes to depicting WWII. Yet some of them are considered classics of cinema. Granted, they weren´t as brutal as the movies today but I would attribute that to the times we live in. People want to see it, it could be as simple as that. Almost all of Hollywood Greats played parts in such movies. Lets wait half a century and see how a movie like Hacksaw ridge will be considered then.

So, now that that is said I am really surprised this movie only got two technical Oscars and mostly got overlooked by all for Best Actor, Director, Movie. I´m not saying the movie should have won everything, after all a nomination is a recognition. This is an intense movie with a gripping story that really got to me. I didn´t know about Doss before, at least I can´t remember, but his is a remarkable story. One you almost think can´t be real and could only be coming out of Hollywood.

So far it was the best movie I´ve seen this year and that is why I´m giving it a 10.
No, it´s not the best I´ve ever seen but one of the few that really moved me and left me emotionally exhausted and that is why I´m giving it a 10.

Everyone is entiteled to his own opionion, This is mine.

I´m about half way through the show and decided to quit. I´m really struggling to keep going because I`m dissapointed by what this is. I thought this would be another good, serious mystery show. Instead it is at best a very light hearted version of the x-files that really has more focus on comedy than anything else. There isn´t much sense or logic in the scripts. Maybe it should have been apparent when comedy is listed first in genre. While I could live with the light-heartedness at first, it became more and more of a problem the further I watched. There are simply too many flaws.
The first season was Ok, at least there was kind of a villain. The HG Wells arch in the second was wasted because it was totally apperent what would happen. There seem to be some kind of villain in the third but as I said I´m not watching it.
The behavior of the characters, while charming and entertaining at first, really grows old during the second season as there also is nothing in terms of character developement.
Why has there always to be a whiz kid computer genious? And why are they always annoying and nerving ?
The only interesting character is Mrs. F because she is surrounded by some mystery. That alone is not enough for the whole show.
As mentioned before, too much comedy that felt forced the more the show progressed. If there were the taped laughters you would think it´s a sitcom. Less would have been more
A plus: I love all the hints and references to other shows.
All in all I feel like watching some kind of sunday morning teen show on the Disney Channel that tries to lure in some adults with the mystery part.

If you made a movie that is making $ 544k domestic and a little over $ 1m worldwide it tells you something. There wasn´t much interest in the first place (no, honestly how many movie goers are that? 100-110k maybe?) Anyway, if you haven´t seen it I don´t think you´d missed out.
Yes, the story is - or rather could have been - interesting. I think it is to superfical. You have the innocent little girl that one day sees the monk burning himself and suddenly she went haywire and becomes anti-everything. From there on the story jumps through the years with little explanations or deeper investigation. It´s the father not wanting to give up on his daughter and the mother trying to move on. You could have easily jumped from Merry´s disapearance to the day her father found her because all what happened in between isn´t really meaningful. I don´t blame McGregors directing, I think he did a good job and since he didn´t wrote the script you can´t lay blame on him for that. I haven´t read the book, maybe it isn´t even a bad adaptation. Maybe the origin is as sketchy.
All the actors did a very good job and it is what keeps this movie above water so that you get through it. But that is just it, you get through it and after the end you just forget. If this was supposed to be a critical lock into that time in history it failed.

This is a Disney movie and it shows from start to finish. There is no real sense of drama or urgency, I never felt that any of the characters were ever in peril. Disney familiy friendly concept doesn´t work on a story that is supposed to be heart gripping drama. Yes, the movie looks really good I´ll give it that. But they should label it "no common sense was used in the making of this movie"

They are on the ocean in a drifting stern with winds up to 60 mp/h, the waves are several meters high, yet they are standing firmly planted on a deck that is just slightly moving and outside it seems that only a slight breeze is going on that doesn´t even disturb their hair. No one really seems to get injured everyone is only having mild bruises, if any, I believe there was one broken arm, that´s all. And a girl sitting in her crashed car for hours in what is supposed to be a snow storm with only her dress on and she isn´t effected at all by the cold. There are several more examples of that kind but I guess you get my point.

I know a movie is make-believe, but please give the audience some credit.
Disney has made, and I´m sure will continue to do, great movies that fit them very nicely. But this isn´t one of them.

Compared to its predecessor this was almost an insult. Problem was the studio wanted a cheap continuation and that is exactly what they got. So, no more space battles with the Cylons. Just put it in the then present day, use some old sets, bring in some new actors (I guess Richard Hatch was wise not to participate and Dirk Benedict was lucky he hadn´t got time) and mix up new shots with stock footage that at times were not even from any Galactica episode. Put in some stupid comedic situations and you´ll end up with a silly show that even in 1980 felt like something from 1960. Luckily the intended concept set in place with the pilot didn´t made it in production or this would have been even worse (check the Wikipedia link). Which in turn may lead to some confusion later on. However you look at it, this hasn´t much in common with Galactica beside the simplest groundwork.
The one positive of the show was it´s final episode where Dirk Benedict re-appeared as Starbuck and we learn about his fate. There isn´t much reason to watch the rest, really, other than maybe you just want to complete the whole thing. It doesn´t take a lot of time with only 10 episodes.

I know a lot of people have high praise for this show as is evident by its average rating. But since it´s not 100 % it says not everyone likes it totally. I consider myself among those.
Since I know about nothing about american politics or the internal affairs of it (not from the US) I might have been at a disadvantage from the start. A lot of episodes I lost track of what was going on and the rest just couldn´t keep my interest up. So it might help if you have at least a general idea of the politics involved. And I was missing any form of suspense. Maybe it´s not the purpose of the show but when you have a crisis that could lead into an atomic strike and you´re not sure wether you are watching a soap or a sitcom something is off. And I didn´t like the characters. At first they seemed very funny and likeable but that changed. The more I watched the less I cared. All this is based on the 30+ episodes I watched but with the prospect of another 120 ahead I`m simply not willing to invest the time. I´m not bashing the show, I´m not saying it´s bad. But since I read only positive comments about it I thought I gave my view of it. I, too, like intelligent TV but The West Wing just isn´t my kind of show.

This could have been much better because this is the first military documentary where they show soldiers who actually voice there doubts about what they are doing and concerns if their mission does what they are beeing told. But in general you get a lot of this GI Joe-propaganda stuff like "we americans need to babysit the world", "we do what we are told, it is not our place to question that", instead of beeing happy not to use deadly force in their mission pilots are dissapointed not to have dropped a single bomb because "I like dropping bombs, that is what they trained me for".
Again and again you hear the stories of lower and middle class kids from small towns who all had trouble in their past with drugs, alcohol, crime in general, some have been abused and they all go on record saying "the navy was my saviour, without them I might be dead by now."
I am not American and I mean no direspect to anyone who served in whatever nation. If I did offend someone please note that I am only voicing my opion about this show. I would have preferred a more neutral approach because as the show stands it is basically a 10 hour "join the navy" commercial

I am not quite shure why I wanted to watch this. Yes, the plot reads interesting but it's more names like Simm and Frain and propably Glenn Morgan.
Anyway, it's more of a mini series than a tv show. Pace is slow which isn't a problem in this case because it fits the whole story and the feel for it. Took me a couple of episodes to get into it. The story is a bit confusing at first but you figure it out. You have to be willing to put some effort into it and since is not your typical easy entertainment show I would say a lot of people got dissapointed, even bored, which might explain the ratings for this. Quality of the production is right at the top, those are actors who deserve to be called that. That little girl was really great. I can't say anything about how close this is to the novel since I never read it.
I'd gave it a 6 because it's not quite my kind of show, this secret society stuff is a bit overdone, but it kept me in front of the screen for two evenings without getting bored. And as mentioned before I liked the quality.